ABSTRACT
In 1945, the economies of continental Europe again lay in ruin, ravaged by the unprecedented devastation of World War II. War-weary Europeans began casting a jaundiced eye toward a once-hallowed institution, the nation-state, deeming it guilty of directly aiding and abetting the unrestrained growth of nationalism—the primary cause of several major wars among western European countries since 1870. The United States and Western Europe created and for many years dominated the post–World War II international economic order. Linked by similar cultural, political, and economic traditions as well as mutual fear of Soviet expansionism, the countries making up the so-called Atlantic Community developed a tightly interdependent economic relationship along with a tightly knit military alliance. The member countries of the EU are exceptions to the rule that sovereign nations conduct their own external trade policies. The "living" institutions of the EU are its common policies that serve as the paths to the end of a single European market.
